ABSTRACT
While status differences are acknowledged between faceworkers as a whole, underground datal men, and surface personnel, their existence among faceworkers themselves is apt to be denied. In single place working the members of a marrow group who shared all tasks had equal status but, with the advent of longwall specialization, status differences among the various task groups appeared, becoming more pronounced among the seven roles on cutting than the three on hewing faces. The purpose of the present account is to articulate the technical, sociological, and psychological distinctiveness of the various task groups. It will be served by selecting the main groups—cuttermen, fillers, pullers, and stonemen—concerned with the cutting longwall cycle as found in North West Durham. The functioning of the cycle group, which complements the present account, is described in Chapter XIII.
